News:
January 28, 2011
A senior member of Parliament who has broken ranks with colleague MPs on the matter of recent demands for increased pay, has told Citi News that he would be embarking on a lone protest March to press home his concerns.
Shai Osu Doku MP, Hon David Tetteh Assuming, told Citi News on Tuesday January 25, that he is opposed to the proposed upward review of salaries and benefits for members of the legislature.
He believes salaries for all article 71 office holders, which include MPs, should not be increased for at least two years.
His comments come at a time Parliament is preparing to put before the Presidential Committee on Emoluments a detailed proposal to demand as much as 7,000 new Ghana cedis as monthly salary for lawmakers.
The MPs currently receive GH2, 500 a month. They last had a pay rise in October 2010, when their salaries were increased by 17%.
But Hon. David Tetteh Assuming said the increment is unwarranted. He said it is time for people in government positions to try and sacrifice for the nation to move on.
The MP has thus decided to embark on a one-man demonstration, but it is unclear if the lone voice amongst the 230 honourable men will be heard.
He told Citi News he will first start by wearing red arm bands in Parliament to register his disapproval for the proposed increment.
“We want money but we need to look at the general conditions that are prevailing. We need to look at the people who put you in the very positions that you are and see whether they are also moving alongside you. When they see that you are moving wider ahead of them and the gap is becoming wider, then you have to sit down and think and see how you can narrow the gap. So I am saying that, in an attempt to lower the gap and make sure that those at the lower bracket also enjoy some better living conditions, I am saying that I want to wage a crusade on the issue of raising any upward adjustment of persons in the Article 71 bracket including MPs. I am going to wear red arm bands in the House to draw members’ attention to this issue” he said.
Asked whether he was not only embarking on a populist move for his selfish parochial interest, the MP said he was only serving the interest of the masses whose living conditions are no better.
But the MP failed to answer in the affirmative when he was asked whether he would accept the new salary if the proposal is approved.
Source: citifm